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Tom Kaye Retires from Paintball, AGD Under New Management

To all my friends on AO and in Paintball,

It has been no secret that AGD has been under financial stress for many years. With the recent downturn in the industry it no longer makes sense for me and my family to pursue a living from this great game. Effective today I will be retiring and moving on to other business ventures outside paintball.

Dave Zupan who many of you know as my vice president, has bought out our inventory and will be taking over running the company. For most people AGD will still be in business as usual and you will still be able to call and order product. Please give him the same respect and feedback you have given me for so many years.

It has been a privilege to watch an industry grow from a spark into a raging fire that covered the world. I am proud to have contributed in my small way. Most of all I was glad to know the people of paintball, especially my customers. AO has been my constant companion for years now and I never expected all the benefits, joys and sorrows that came from knowing you all.

I will still continue to promote and participate in the Shatner event but its unlikely that I will be attending any other events during the year. I certainly didnít think it would end like this but I am the last of a long gone group of paintball founders that are not around any more.

I sincerely hope that paintball gets past its recent flurry of issues and comes together as the great game and industry we all know it can be. To all of the players I want you to remember that its YOU who control this game and this industry. Treat it wisely and vote with your dollars so your kids can play along side you some day.

I will answer questions in this thread, please start another one for general comments and I will sticky it.

Thank you all for being the greatest customers and friends that a guy could wish for!!

Sorry to see you go. You've done a great thing, with mags, and AGD, and AO, (and air tanks, and warp feeds, and barrel condoms and yadda yadda YA), and most importantly, the sport of paintball as a whole. Best of luck with your future endeavors, I hope you'll find happiness in whatever you choose to do.

**edit** TOM KAYE, good friend of ours... honor us with one last chat party before you go for good?

Also, will AO and irc.automags.org stick around?

Last edited by BobTheCow63; 12-08-2004 at 06:31 PM.

Calling all Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, and other east coast AOers...

wowwww. i thought that agd was getting more popular. i guess i didnt understand. well i hope that you succed in whatever you do from now on. good luck. ps:thanks for the great gun. its WAY BETTER than any of the others. GOOD LUCK.

you said that you would answer questions in this thread. so here is one for you

can we still expect to see you out at some feilds occasionally, and i mean this as will you just wake up one day and be like, im going paintball today? and will you still be a father figure here on AO?

t33kyboy "So if a cat is dropped from 11 inches, it will most likely die."

I need to find a way to make AO pay for itself. If it can do that it can stay around forever. I will be selling banner space as a first try but if that doesnt work it might have to go to some kind of membership fee. Stuff like AO has to get paid for somehow and Dave didn't take over all the bills I have to pay.

Will I show up at events?

Maybe, maybe not. You have to understand how hard it is to come back as an unknown. You all know me but in a couple months I will be invisible to 99% of the paintball world. Thats just the way it is.

You continue to expect that things will be the same but in reality the old days of paintball are gone forever. The general paintball public hasn't put it all together yet. They dont understand that AKA is done making guns forever. That Odessey who brought you the best loader ever is now hovering at bankruptcy. WGP just gave up the whole upper end marrket in favor of a spider clone. Glen Palmer is going to retire to another country. Tippmann is now controlled by the functional equivalent of a superpower and the best Bob Long can do is come out with a new look every month.

I suppose we should add Tom Kaye stepping down as President of Air Gun Designs to the list. Thanks for your contributions the the sport of paintball, you will be missed.

I need to find a way to make AO pay for itself. If it can do that it can stay around forever. I will be selling banner space as a first try but if that doesnt work it might have to go to some kind of membership fee. Stuff like AO has to get paid for somehow and Dave didn't take over all the bills I have to pay.